Knitting machine



' ipmwg? June 9, 1931. M. c. MILLER KNITTING MACHINE Original FiledApril 10, 1923 2 Sheets-$heet l June 9, 1931. M. c. MILLER KNITTINGMACHINE Original Filed April 10, 1923 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 /qi m PatentedJune 9, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Application filed April 10,1923, Serial No. 631,071. Renewed February 28, 1980.

The invention relates to knitting machines and more particularly to themeans for actuating, controlling and pressing the needles of anindependent spring needle machine. I i

. The object of the invention is to provide novel and improved devicesfor actuating,

controlling and pressing the needles which are well adapted for use in amachine provided with sinkers for measuring the yarn fed to the needlesand with web holders for casting oil and holding the fabric and to thisend the invention comprises the features of construction and combinationof parts hereinafter described and set forth in the claims.

A preferred form of the invention applied to a circular machine forknitting seamless hosiery is illustrated in the accompanying drawings inwhich Fig. 1 is a view showing somewhat diagrammatically the interior ofthe cam supporting cylinder, Figs. 2 to 6 are sectional views on lines 2to 6 respectively'of Fig. 1, Fig. 7 is a sectional view on 2 line 7,Fig. 1 showing onerof the needles -which is rendered active and inactivein narrowing and widening and the position of its operating jack whenthe needle is rendered inactive, Fig. 8 is a sectional view on line 8,

Fig. 1, showing one of the instep needles which is rendered inactiveduring the knitting of the heel or toe and its operating jack when theneedle is rendered inactive, Fig. 8

is a diagrammatic plan view showing diagrammatically the arrangement ofthe presser slides which press the beards of the needles and one of thepresser actuating cams. Figs. 10 and 11 are perspective views showingtwo adjacent presserslides, and

Fig. 12 is a detailed view showing the overlapping needle engaging facesof the needle pressers.

As shown in the drawings the spring needles 2 are mounted in grooves inthe needle cylinder 4 which may he rotated and oscillated by anysuitable mechanism suojh as is usualy employed for rotating andoscillating the needle cylinder of 'a seamless hosiery machine. Eachneedle is actuated and controlled by a jack 6, the upper end of which isrecessed to receive the hook-shaped bent lower end of the needle so thatthe needle may be advanced and retracted'by lengthwise movement of thejack and so that the jack maybe swung radially inward and outward aboutthe lower end of the needle to render the corresponding needle inactiveor active. Each jack is provided with two outwardly projecting butts 8and 10 for engaging the knitting cams which advance andretract theneedles. so The jacks are normally held with their butts projecting fromthe needle grooves into positlon to be acted upon by the knitting camsby sliders 12 mounted in the needle ooves and provided at their upperends w1th forwardly extending projections 14 underl ing guiding surfaces16 on the inner sides 0 the jacks which'are of sutficient length toremain in engagement with the projections 14 during the forward andretracting movements of "lo the jacks and needles. Below the projections14 each'jack is cut away or-recessed at 18 to permit the lower end ofthe jack to swing inward when the projection 14 is caused to re isterwith the recess 20 formed in the back of the 'ack beyond the upper endof the guiding sur ace 16. Near the lowerend of the recess 18 the slideris provided with a cam surface 22 arranged to en age the inclined lowerend of the jack when t e projection 14 registers with I the recess 20and acting to positively swing the lower end of the jack radially.inward to remove the butt 8 of the eel: from aetive relation to the camswhich normally act thereon while permitting the butt 10 of the jack to86 remain in active projecting osition. The jack and needle controllingsli are 12 are provided near their lower ends with projecting butts 24.,arranged to be engaged and acted upon by controlling cams and devices,the W sliders corresponding to the instep needles being provided withlong butts while the sliders correspondin' to the needles which areoperated in knitting the heel and toe are provided with short butts.

The knitting cams for forming the knitting waves in the needles compriseneedle advancing cams 26 and 28 arranged to engage the lower butts 8 ofthe needle jacks and acting. to advance the needles from their normallevel to the clear level, cams 3G and 32 arranged to engage the upperbutts 10 and retract the needles to the pressing level, stitch cams 34and 36 arranged to engage the butts 8 and complete the retracting of theneedles to the stitch drawing point and side cams 38 and 4.0 arranged toengage the butts 8 and advance the needles to their normal levelimmediately after they have been drawn to the knitting point by thestitch cams. Guard cams 42 and is are arranged under the earns 30 and 32to prevent overthrow of the needles by the cams 30 and 32 and "to thusaccurately determine the pressing level of the needles. The uppersurfaces of the stitch cams 34.- and 36 are so arranged or adjusted withrelation to the points of the stitch cams that they will act as guardcams or plates for engaging the under sides of the upper butts 10 of theneedle jacks and preventing overthrow of the needles b the stitch cams.The normal level of the en s of the needles is slightly above the stitchdrawing level and slightlybelow the level of the sinkers as indicated inFig. 6;

During rotary knitting the stitch cam 36 is raised out of the path cfthe butts 8 so that it will not act to draw the needles idly to thestitch level and during reciprocatory knitting the stitch cams 34 and 36are alternately raised and lowerediso that only that cam correspondingto the nitting point acts to draw the needles to the stitch level duringeach stroke of the needle cylinder. The paths of the butts of the needleoperating jacks during rotary knitting and during the forward stroke ofthe needle cylinder in reciprocatory knitting is indicated indottedlines in Fig. 1. As the needles approach the knitting point thelower section of the cam 23 engages the butts 8 and advances the needlesfrom the normal level toward the clear level, the leading end of theguard cam 44 continues the advancing movement of the needles by engagingthe butts 10 of the jacks and the upper section of the cam 26 completesthe advance of the needles to the clear level by engagement with thebutts-'8. The position of the needles and jacks at this stage isindicated in Fig. 2. After the yarn is kinked about the needles by thesinkers the ca m 30 engages the butts 10 of the needle jacksand drawsthe needles down to the pressing level where their beards are acted uponby the pressers (Figs. 3 and a) and then the butts 8 of the jacks engagethe stitch cam 3% which acts to draw theneedles to the stitch level(Fig. 5).. The cam 38 then acts on the butts 8 to return the needles tothe normal level (Fig. 6). By utilizing a separate cam such as the cam30 or the cam 32 for drawing the needles to the pressing leveladjustment of the stitch cams which draw the needles to the stitch levelmay be made as, .for instance, in varying sizes of yarn withoutafiectingthe pressing level ofthe needles which shouldremain the samewhatever the extent to which the needles are finally drawn by the stitchcams.

The instep needles which are inactive during the knitting of the heeland toe are rendered inactive by swinging the corresponding outts 8 fromactive relation to the knitting cams. For this purpose a cam 4:6 isarranged for radial movement into and out of the path of the long butts24 on the controller sliders 12. When the cam is moved into the path ofthe long butts it will raise the long utt sliders from the positionindicated in Fig. 6 to the position indicated in Fig. 8. This movementof the sliders will bring their yacks 6 radially inward to withdrawtheir upper ends into the recesses 20 of the needle operating jacks andwill cause the, camsun faces 22 on the sliders to engage the lower endsof thejacks and swing them positivel inward to withdraw the butts 8 fromthe path or the knitting cams. During the; final upward movement of thesliders their upper ends will engage the shoulders 48 on the jacks atthe upper ends of the recesses 20 and raise the needles into theposition indicated in Fig. 8 so that the instep needles will remain idleduring the knitting of the heel and toe with their upper ends slightlyabove the level of the sinkers. Since the level of the idle instepneedles is above the sinker level the sinkers corresponding totheseneedles should be rendered inactive during the knitting of the heelor toe to avoid idly kinking the yarn about these needles.

The fashioning needles are rendered inactive during the narrowing bynarrowing pickers indicated at 50 which acton'the butts of the shortbutt sliders and raise them successively from the position indicated inFig. 6 to the position indicatedin Fig. 7, thus rendering thecorresponding needles inactive by withdrawing the butts Set the needleoperating jacks from the path'of the knitting cams. These needles arethus positioned when inactive with their upper ends below the level ofthe sinkers. These needles are successively returned to the activeseries by loo a widening picker 52 arranged to engage the butts of thesliders and return them successively from the position indicated in Fig.

7 to the position indicated in Fig. 6. The in sition to engage the buttsof the sliders and return them from the position indicated in F g. 8 orin Fig. 7 to the position indicated in F 1g. 6. When the sliders arereturned to normal position to renderthe corresponding needles activethe upper end of each slider moves down out of the recess 20 of thecorresponding jack and positively returns the jack to active positionand supports it in this position until the slider is again moved topositively swing the jack inward to render the correspondin needleinactive.

The radia y movable webholders 56 and sinkers 58 are mounted in groovesin a dial GOsecured to the upper end of the needle cylinder and theseweb holders and sinkers, as well as the radially movable pressers to bedescribed, are provided with short and long butts corresponding to theshort and long butts of the needle controlling sliders 12 for thepurpose of rendering inactive that series of these knitting elementswhich corresponds to the instep needles so that the instep needles whichare partially up during the knitting ofthe heel or toe will not havearn-kinked about them' or be pressed or have the loops of the fabricheld thereby strained by the web holders. These knitting elements may berendered active and inactive by cams corresponding to the cams 46 and 54which act on the butts of the needle controllin sliders 12.

e'means for pressing the beards of the needles forms one of theimportant features of the invention and comprises a series of radiallymovable pressers, the beard engaging portions of which overlap to form acontinuous pressing surface movable toward and from the needles. Asshown the pressing means'consists of a series of sliders 62 mounted inthe grooves of the dial 60 above the web holders 56 and below the sinker58. The presser sliders are provided at their outer ends with upwardlyprojecting butts, the instep pressers having long butts .and

the ressers which are active during the knittin of the heel and toehavlng short butts. e needle pressers are advanced to press the needlesby cams, one of which is indicated at 64 in Fig. 9, these cams beingarranged toengage both the long and short butts. The pressers areretracted by the corresponding sinkers, the forward ends of which areprovided with depend ng portions 66 arranged to engage the forwardFressers during the backward ends of the movement 0 the sinkers. Theinner or needle an aging ends of the'press ers are bent at rig t anglesto the sliding portions to form ;overlapping needle engaging surfaceswhich are preferabl curved to conform to the needle circle. lternatepressers (Fig. 11) have their laterally bent ends arranged above andoverlying the laterally bent ends (Fig. 10) of the intermediatepressers. The

overlapping needle engaging surfaces of the pressers thus form acontinuous pressing surface, as indicated in Fig. 12, surrounding theneedles and this surface is moved into and out of engagement with thebeards of the needles by the forward and return movement of theindividual pressers. With this construction the danger of mispressingdue to the deflection of any needle slightly out of linewith thecorresponding presser is avoided and the proper and uniform pressing ofthe needle beards throughout the knitting is insured. The cams foradvancing the pressers are arranged to advance the pressers after theneedles have been drawn down to the pressing point by cam 30 or cam 32(Fig. 3) and before the downward movement of the needles is continued bythe stitch cam 34 (Fig. 4). The pressers remain in advanced positionuntil the sinkers are withdrawn when the downwardly projecting end '66of the sinkers act against the inner ends of the pressers to withdrawthem to inactive position (Fig. 6),. Y

The cams for pperating-and"controlling the-sinkers"and pressers arecarried by a stationary cam ring or support 68 and are arranged tooperate upon the upwardly projecting butts of these knitting elements.The cams for operating and controlling the web holders derlying the webholders, and these cams are arranged to engage the downwardly projectingbutts of the web holders. The cams for advancin and retracting the webholders are preferab so arranged that the web holders after eingwithdrawn at the point where the active stitch cam draws the needles tothe stitch level are not again advanced until thgpoint "is reached wherethe needles are advanced by the active needle advancing cam, therebyavoiding subjecting the loops heldb the needles which are at the normallevel etween these points to unnecessary strain. This is permissiblesince the needles after passing the active. stitch cam are not raisedsufiiciently to require the web holders to be moved inward until theyreach the active needle advancing cams, but remain at an idle levelonlslightly above the level to which they are rawn by the active stitchcam.

.While the invention has been shown and described as applied to acircular machine in which the needles are mounted to move vertically inthe grooves of a needle cylinder it will be understood that it is notconfined in its application to a machine of this character but may beembodied in machines having other forms of needle supports and that thebroader features applied to other types of machines.

Certain features of the invention relating more particularly tothe meansfor pressing the needles are not claimed herein but form are mountedonacam ringlO-nn of the lnvention may be relation to the cams,

'needle'be d acting when the subject-matter of a divisional application,No. 520,810, filed March 7, 1931.

What is claimed is:

1. In a knittin machine spring needles, a stitch cam for rawing theneedles to the stitch level adjustable to vary the stitch level, aseparate cam for drawing the needles to the pressing level, and meansfor pressing the needles.

2. In a knitting machine, spring needles, a stitch cam for drawing theneedles to the stitch level movable lengthwise of the needles, a fixedcam for drawing the needles to a fixed pressing level, and means forpressing the needles.

3. Ina knitting machine, spring needles, two stitch cams alternatelymovable in opposite directions lengthwise of the needles duringreciprocatory knitting, an independently mounted cam corresponding toeach stitch cam for drawing the needles to the pressing level, and meansfor pressing the needles.

4. In a knitting machine, needles, a needle bed, needle operating jacks,cams for actuating the jacks, and sliders mounted in the moved in onedirection to positively move the jacks outofactive relation to the camsand when moved in the opposite direction to return the jacks to activerelation to the cams. 1

5. In a knitting machine, needles, a needle bed, needle operating jacksprovided with butts, cams for engaging the butts, sliders mountedintheneedle bed provided with means for positively moving the jackbuttsout of and into the cam path.

6. Inaknitting machine, needles, a needle bed, needle actuatingelements, cams for actuating the needle elements, and sliders mounted inthe needle bed and movable lengthwise of the needles to remove theneedle elements positively from active relation to the cams.

7. In a knitting machine, needles, needle operating acks, cams foractuating the jacks, sliders back of the jacks for normallysupporting-the-jacks in active relation to the cams, cam surfaces formedon the sliders, and means for moving the sliders lengthwise of the jacksto cause the cam surfaces to engage with and to remove the jacks fromactive relation to the cams.

8. In a knitting machine, needles, needle operating jacks, cams foractuating the jacks, sliders back of the jacks for normally supportingthe jacks in active relation to the cams, and provided with means formoving the jacks positively out of and into active and means foradvancing and retracting the sliders lengthwise of the needles.

9. In a knitting machine, needles, needle operating jacks, cams foractuating the jacks, sliders back ofthe jacks having long and shortbutts, means for advancing the long.

butt sliders to render the instep needles inac tive, pickers for actingon the sliders at the ends of the active series to render correspondingneedles inactive and active, and means for retracting the inactivesliders at the end of the widening.

10. In a knitting machine, needles, needle operating'jacks, eachprovided with two pro- "ecting butts, cams for acting on projecting uttsin each series, and means acting on the jacks to withdrawone butt fromnormal active relation to the cams normally acting thereon withoutwithdrawing the other butt.

11. In a knitting machine, a needle, a

needle operating jack connected to the end of the needle, a projectingbutt near the needle engaging end of the jack, a second projecting buttnear the free end of the jack, cams for engaging the butts, and meansfor swinging the free end of the jack inward to withdraw the butt atthis end from the action of the corresponding cam.

12. In a knitting machine, a needle support provided with needlegrooves, needles therein, needle operating jacks therein provided withbutts, sliders in the grooves provided with means for supporting thejacks in oiiter activeposition and for swinging/the jacks positivelyinafidoutf cams for operating on the jack butts when the jacks are i intheir outer position, and means for advancing and retracting thesliders.

13. In a knitting machine, a rotary and reciprocating needlesupport,.spring needles mounted therein, knitting cams for operating theneedles, sinkers for sinking the yarn to the needles, means forrendering the instep needles inactive in a plane above the plane of thesinkers while the corresponding sinkers are inactive, and means forrendering the fashioning needles inactive duringvthe narrowing in aplane below the sinkers.

1 1.,In a knitting machine, a needle support provided with needlegrooves, needle elements therein provided with projecting butts, needleoperating cams for acting on the projecting butts, and means includingickers for causing certain needle operating utts to be drawn within thegrooves.

15. In a knitting machine, a needle support provided with needlegrooves, needle elements therein provided with projecting butts, needleoperating cams for acting on the projecting butts, and narrowing andwiden ing means including pickers for causing certain of the needleoperating butts to be drawn within and thereafter to be again protrudedfrom the groove.

16. In a knitting machine, for knitting narrowed and widened fabric aneedle cyll inder, needles and operating butts therefor, cams foroperating the needles acting on the butts protruding from the cylinder,and means comprising pickers for causing cer- IOU tain of the needleoperating butts to be drawn within the cylinder. a

17. In a knitting machine, needles,- a.

needle bed, needle actuating elements, cams for actuating the needleelements, and sliders mounted in the needle bed movable lengthwise ofthe needles, having each a raised portion to support a needle element inactive relation to the cams, a-recessed portion to permit the needleelement to be moved out of active relation to the cams on the forwardvmovement of the slider and a cam surface to move the needle elementspositively out of' operative position.

MAX G. MILLER.

